The UK's National Crime Agency has frozen more than $13.6 million (£10,024,041.33) held in a bank account belonging to the Premier League, as the crypto company that paid the funds faces proceedings brought by the UK Gambling Commission, UK paper The Sun reported.

The agency obtained the order from Westminster magistrates' court in January 2025 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, covering funds held in a Barclays account in the name of The Football Association Premier League Limited. Its purpose is "to prevent dissipation of the funds while the NCA investigates any potential links between those funds and alleged third-party criminality," a spokesperson told the paper. Freezing orders of this kind are a standard tool under the 2002 legislation, allowing investigators to secure assets at an early stage of an inquiry without prejudging its outcome.

The money was the first payment from Sorare under a four-year sponsorship announced in January 2023, according to The Sun. Neither side disclosed the value, which Sorare said was withheld for contractual reasons; it was reported at the time at around $41 million (£30 million) a year, or $163 million (£120 million) across the term. The arrangement gave Sorare the right to issue digital cards of players from all 20 clubs, with clubs paid according to how often their cards were used. It ended after the 2025-26 season. The deal was one of the largest crypto sponsorships in English soccer, signed as sports bodies worldwide were courting blockchain firms despite a string of high-profile collapses in the sector, including FTX, whose naming-rights deals with major US venues and teams were unwound after its 2022 bankruptcy.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the Premier League, which declined to comment to The Sun. The league is due in court on Monday seeking to vary the order, which runs to September 14. Its most recent accounts, to July 31, 2025, show reserves above $2 billion (£1.5 billion), the paper reported.

In a statement shared with Decrypt, a spokesperson for Sorare alleged "factual inaccuracies" in The Sun's reporting, clarifying that the firm is "not under investigation by the UK National Crime Agency," that the Gambling Commission's prosecution is a "separate and ongoing matter," and that "The freezing order reported in the press concerns funds held in an account which does not belong to Sorare."

A card game, or a betting product

Sorare runs a fantasy soccer game in which players assemble squads from digital cards and score points based on how the real players perform. Founded in 2018, it began as a crypto-only marketplace where users connected wallets and traded cards using Ethereum or Solana, adding cash payments in August 2023. The Premier League listed Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Kylian Mbappé, Rio Ferdinand and Serena Williams among Sorare's investors and ambassadors, and put its value at $4.3 billion (£3.21 billion), a figure dating to its SoftBank-led funding round in 2021. Beyond soccer, Sorare has struck similar licensing deals with other major sports leagues, including the NBA and MLB, making the outcome of the UK proceedings a reference point for how play-to-earn and NFT-based fantasy products are treated under gambling law more broadly.

Whether that constitutes gambling is already before a separate court. The Gambling Commission charged Sorare in September 2024 with providing facilities for gambling without an operating licence, contrary to the Gambling Act 2005, following an investigation that began in 2021. It was the regulator's first action against a blockchain-based platform, and it rarely prosecutes at all. Sorare entered three not-guilty pleas at Birmingham magistrates' court that October, one to each count, and trial is now listed for June 2027, having been pushed back from June 2026. The case turns on how the 2005 Act, written years before blockchain gaming existed, applies to products where digital assets carry monetary value; the outcome could shape how similar crypto game operators structure their UK offerings.

A spokesperson for Sorare told Decrypt that its Premier League contract had expired at the end of its term, and was "not terminated as a result of any investigation or regulatory proceedings."

On the prosecution, it said it "firmly" denies that it is a gambling product under UK law, adding that "we will continue to defend our position."

Regulators have been circling the wider trend. The Financial Conduct Authority wrote to Premier League clubs in June warning that deals with unauthorised crypto firms could breach financial services laws and expose clubs to legal and reputational risk. "Millions of football fans trust their club's badge," said Lucy Castledine, the regulator's director of consumer investments, and clubs "should not let unauthorised financial firms exploit that loyalty by putting potentially dodgy products in front of millions of fans." The dual pressure from the FCA and the Gambling Commission reflects a broader clampdown on crypto tie-ups in British sport, and the frozen Premier League funds show how sponsorship income itself can become entangled when a partner runs into regulatory trouble.

This article has been updated to reflect additional comments by Sorare.